Henry Wiles To Race A Harley At Stockton

By Cycle News Staff | 5/2/2013 3:01 PM

For the past seven years Lloyd Brothers Motorsports has been trying to do things differently in the AMA Grand National Championship. Next weekend at the Stockton Half Mile in Stockton, California, the team will switch to the brand that has dominated the sport for decades – the Harley-Davidson XR750.

Although Henry Wiles will debut a brand-new Brent Armbruster-built XR750 next weekend, team co-owner David Lloyd says it’s not the end of the road for the Ducati.

“We haven’t given up our mission of building brand diversity in pro flat track,” Lloyd said. “With one win, three second places and a multitude of top-five finishes to our credit, we have helped to broaden the appeal of the series to fans and competitors. I also think that we have helped to inspire others to develop flat track motorcycles around more affordable engines. In addition to the Harley-Davidson factory team, we now have teams in the paddock with support from Triumph, KTM and Kawasaki.”

At this point, the choice is based at least partly on finances.

“Racing the Harley at some of the races this season is simply a matter of economics,” Wiles said. “Harley-Davidson supports the series and offers a generous performance contingency at each event. Thanks to Terry and Nancy Otton of Ramspur Winery, I now has a brand-new XR750 with which to earn contingency money at tracks that favor the XR powerband. I guess the positive side of not having a team OEM sponsor is that we have the freedom to use whichever bike we think will work best at different tracks.”